Blue Eyes & Black Eyes
by Akernis
Summary: Kaelis Terrilian Shepard and Liara T'soni's first meeting on Therum and Liara's subsequent settling-in on the Normandy.
1. Chapter 1 - Into the Fire

**Title:** Chapter 1 – Into the Fire  
**Universe:** Mass Effect (ME 1)  
**Major Characters:** Kaelis Terrilian Shepard, Liara T'soni  
**Other Characters: **Garrus Vakarian, Urdnot Wrex, Kaiden Alenko, Ashley Williams, Tali Zorah nar Rayya, Jeff "Joker" Moreau.  
**Author:** Akernis

"ETA: thirty minutes Commander" Joker's idiosyncratically cheerful voice called out across the communications-link in the Comm-room.

"Understood Joker, give me the signal when we are ready to enter orbit" Kaelis responded clearly before turning his attention back to awaiting the last member of his crew.

He had told the ground crew to assemble in the Comm-Room for a quick run-down before the _Normandy_ touched down on Therum. They did not know much about the situation, having been thrust into it with barely any leads, but he felt that what little there was known should be shared with the people that he was going to go into action with.

As the ground crew assembled he felt mixed emotions of anticipation and anxiety. He had never been in real combat alongside aliens before, never mind having them serve under his command. He had fought alongside both Garrus Vakarian and Urdnot Wrex aboard the citadel though that had been only briefly and more along the lines of individuals working towards a mutually beneficial goal than actually functioning together as a squad; however what little he had gleamed from that experience told him that it was going to be far different from working alongside other humans.

He had worked with turians before though rarely in direct combat. Garrus seemed to conform to some of the traits Kaelis connected with those turians who had served in the military – which basically meant all of them – he had been excellently efficient with a strong grasp of tactics and combat precision, however he had been far more hot-headed and independent than Kaelis would have assumed from a member of the most rigidly disciplined race in Council Space. Though in hindsight he supposed he should have known that obviously not all members of any race would conform to generalisations of their species, humans were in no way special in that regard.

While he had fought against them Kaelis had never fought alongside krogan before so beyond second or third-hand accounts of violent brutality and overly aggressive temperament he had had no idea of what to expect, but Wrex did not even adhere to those stereotypical characteristica. The krogan had been methodical and precise; he used his unorthodox if brutally effective combat style of tightly controlled aggression to overwhelm his opponents while his near unnatural krogan resilience and tank-like protection allowed him to shrug off retaliatory fire almost impertinently. In personality he was far from the mindless brute many would paint his race; there was something experienced, practically profound, about the krogan that Kaelis had been pleasantly surprised to discover. So far Wrex seemed unable, or at least unwilling, to work coherently with the rest of the team but his natural abilities and skill, no doubt learned through centuries of experience, made him more than worth the addition to the team.

He had only had limited time to get to know the quarian as well, having only fought with her on a side-trip on the way to Therum where they had answered a distress call from a group of humans attacked by a band of privateers. Tali Zorah had proven to be an extraordinary combat engineer and while her combat abilities were noticeably less developed than those of the battle hardened individuals it was impressive in its own right, especially combined with her ability to wreck haywire with enemy shields, weapons and electronic systems. However the cautious combat style that quarians seemed to favour was more than sufficiently challenging to incorporate into the tactics usually deployed by the alliance marines.

Kaelis was still wondering how he was going to maintain tactical squad cohesion in combat with no less than four independently different sets of combat methods and behaviour; it was going to be taxing for the squad as a whole but as squad leader he in particular would have to adapt to his team's varied combat techniques quickly if he should be able to command the unit effectively.

He had however already begun to take steps to improve in this capacity. He had spend much of the journey researching the combat style, tactics and military dogma from several different species to better understand how and why they fought as they did. Originally focusing only on turians and krogan he had quickly become fascinated and branded out his research to quarian, salarian and asari combat and tactics as well. Even if some of it was unlikely to be needed – like that concerning salarian and asari – he studied it as much for the potential knowledge as any immediate application. Suitably impressed with his findings he was already beginning to incorporate several skill sets and methods into his own training and tactics. Though he had been interested in learning the war methodology of other races as an alliance marine he had never been introduced to that as such. But as a Spectre however his desire to learn was really paying off and from what he had found he was surprised that the Alliance had never before desire to incorporate the combat disciplines of the other races. But then again he supposed that the various races might not be entirely willing to share that kind of combat techniques with each other or abandon their own for that matter and that as a Spectre he was in a near unique situation to take advantage of the various races shared battle expertise.

Of course there was no reason to expect that they would get into combat at all when they arrived at Therum, but after Eden Prime Kaelis had taken Nihlus' sentiment of always expecting trouble to heart.

The _Normandy_ had a complement of six marines total, excluding himself, but only two of them, Ashley Williams and Kaidan Alenko, were assigned to the shore party alongside the three aliens. He trusted both due to his experiences with them at Eden Prime, but he was still unsure about how they would handle working alongside the aliens.

There had been some resistance from the crew to bringing no less than three aliens aboard as crew members. The Gunnery Chief and Navigator in particular had been vocal in their opposition to the idea. Though at least they had both given their assurances that however much they might disapprove of working alongside non-humans it would not impede their duties or be any trouble.

Kaelis was glad that it appeared that Tali at least had been accepted amongst the engineers and had already formed an apparently strong bond of friendship with Chief Engineer Adams.

But Adams was not the only person in the crew to treat the non-human members cordially. Joker even seemed quite cheerful at the thought of having aliens aboard and Doctor Chakwas likewise seemed to have absolutely no reservations about treating aliens as well as her usual patients, going as far as to specifically inform Kaelis that she was well versed in the physiology of turians and krogans and even somewhat knowledgeable with that of quarians so she should be able to deal with most problems that might arise. While not ideal the situation was not as bad as he had feared that it would be and Kaelis hoped that the less than cooperative sentiments from some of the rest of the crew would fade with time but held no illusions that it might happen overnight.

Kaelis was snapped out of his thoughts as the door slid aside to allow Tali to join them, completing the group. The young quarian made a slightly awkward gesture of apology at her tardiness as she took her seat. Despite being from another species Kaelis had found that quarian body language was very expressive and easy to read, probably as a result of them not being able to commune via facial expressions. Kaelis nodded his acceptance of the delay before addressing the assembled team.

"As some of you may be aware" he began "we are heading to a planet by the name of Therum within the Knossos system of the Artemis Tau cluster. Lieutenant, what can you tell us about this world?"

When they knew where they were most likely going Kaelis had appointed Kaidan to research the planet for anything noteworthy.

"Therum" the Lieutenant answered crisply "is a near single-biome planet consisting almost exclusively of barren rock deserts and desolate rocky highlands with long mountain ranges and untold volcanoes. As a relatively young world it has extremely volatile seismic and tectonic activity, which results in an abundance of severe earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Gravity is a comfortable 1.12 G. The surface temperature is an average of 59 degrees Celsius and even warmer than that in areas of considerable volcanic activity. Strangely for a volcanic world the atmosphere is breathable though still very sulphuric. Prolonged long-term expose, over several years at least, can cause severe damage but short time exposure, while considerably unpleasant to breathe, is no more hazardous than to give mild headaches. Despite technically being able to sustain life nothing natively living have been discovered to have existed on the planet for tens of thousands of years"

He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing, Kaelis saw the squadmembers nod in understanding, the aliens' translators no doubt converting the human estimates to the measures of their own respective species.

"However Therum does have one noteworthy feature; the planet is home to some of the more intact and very well-preserved Prothean ruins in the galaxy, nearly rivalling those present on the Hanar homeworld of Kahje. The Prothean structures themselves have been declared prohibited under Council degree to anyone except for government-sanctioned archaeological expeditions"

As Kaidan finished Kaelis gave a short nod before he took over.

"Right" he said "we are here to find someone: an asari by the name of Doctor Liara T'soni"

Kaelis had received the information concerning the lead of Dr. T'soni privately by Councillor Tevos, so none of his crew actually knew the specific details of their mission until now.

"Who is she?" Garrus asked, beating his fellow squadmates to the question; even as Garrus asked Kaelis recognised the way the ex-C-Sec officer's eyes stared intently ahead as his detective mind worked hard to divine the specifics of the purpose of their journey to this desolate planet.

"The audio files that proved that Saren is a traitor contained another voice beyond his own" Kaelis said "in all likelihood an ally of his. It belongs to an asari Matriarch named Benezia T'soni. Liara is Benezia's daughter, and beyond that she is an archaeologist specialising in the Protheans from the University of Serrice on Thessia"

Kaelis paused momentarily to let the information sink in. He did not know much about the University of Serrice but Councillor Tevos had told him that it was widely regarded as one of the finest of its kind in Council Space and its students, who were usually chosen due to their brilliance, were usually acknowledged as some of the brightest in their respective fields.

"A Prothean expert and the daughter of our enemy's ally?" Ashley interjected in her Commander's transitory silence "that sounds like an awfully convenient coincidence; we better get her before she can help that Turian bastard finding this Conduit device"

Kaelis cringed slightly at the over-eagerness of his Gunnery Chief but did not rebuke her for the comment, she was technically correct even though he personally preferred going in with a more open mind. Assumptions could easily be wrong and he would rather reserve judgement until he knew more.

"We don't know whether or not she is involved, but nevertheless it would be preferable to find her before Saren gets hold of her, even if she does not know anything about his plans she might know something about the conduit or help with deciphering the visions of the beacon."

Kaelis was forced to pause briefly; a few incoherent images in his mind from the beacon flashed before his eyes now that he thought about it. The vision splinters were fragmentary and disjointed like dream-images but nevertheless as clear and vivid as his own memories. Shaking the experience off him he continued.

"She is studying Prothean ruins in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Though we have no way to know for sure Therum seems her most likely location due to the extensive and well-preserved Prothean structures found there. We deploy as soon as we reach orbit provided we can get a fix on a possibly location. Any questions?"

Kaelis looked at his team, each member in turn, pleased to see that they all appeared attentive and reflecting on the information they had just been given, even Wrex looked alert and ready.

Garrus was the one to speak up.

"Mission parameters? Combat expectations?"

"Search and Secure" Kaelis responded "I am hoping that Dr. T'soni will accompany us willingly, but even if she is reluctant or even hostile lethal force is _not_ authorised unless as an absolutely last resort. We are not expecting opposition but I expect you prepared for trouble regardless"

The crew nodded, he was pleasantly surprised to note that even Wrex seemed willing to follow this command.

"Regardless of who will be deployed I want all of you ready for a potential drop in fifthteen minutes"

He looked around one last time before ending the meeting.

"Dismissed"

Each of the team members left to make final preparations before they touched down on Therum. When they had all gone Kaelis too headed down to equip his own battle gear.

It took a couple of minutes to shift from military fatigues to armoured hardsuit and weapons. As soon as he was outfitted he left for the bridge to get a better idea of the situation.

When he arrived Joker had slowed the ship to its approach speed, he looked up at Kaelis' approach and nodded to the vessel's captain.

"Commander, we are on final approach vector, it shouldn't be long before Therum is visible"

And sure enough shortly thereafter Kaelis could make out a little speck of reflected light against the black and star filled background of space. The little speck quickly grew until it resembled a brown orb crisscrossed by thin lines of blue and glowing red-orange that he assumed to be rivers of water and lava respectively.

As they neared the planet Joker slowed the _Normandy _down even furtherso as not to overshoot their target.

"Scanning planetary surface Commander" one of the Junior Officers said, it took Kaelis a couple of seconds to recall her name; Caroline Grenado.

"I am detecting two anomalies" she reported "the first is a series of strange energy readings that goes off the charts; it seems to be coming from within a Prothean ruin located just beyond an active volcano on the northern hemisphere. The second is much weaker than the first and located only approximately twenty kilometres away; I cannot readily identify its source either"

"Which one is closer?" he asked.

"The smaller signature, it is nearly directly on route" she answered.

"Thank you Grenado" he said before turning back to Joker.

"I'll split the squad in two, drop the first team in the mako near the first anomaly and then head to the Prothean ruins with my own"

"Aye aye sir" his pilot answered immediately.

Kaelis left the bridge to meet up with the rest of the squad down in the hangar.

When he reached the lower deck his people were assembled and waiting for him, all armed and armoured.

"Alright everyone, two targets has been located and we will deploy a team to each. The first target is an unidentified energy signature on the planet surface; Alenko you will take Tali Zorah and Williams and drop in the mako to investigate that location." He turned to the last two crew members "Vakarian, Wrex, the two of you will join me in searching the Prothean ruins of the second location on foot"

The crew nodded their understanding before heading to their respective positions; Team Alpha, the one including the CO, stood back while Team Beta boarded the combat vehicle and readying for their drop.

It was not long before Joker signalled that the drop was imminent and true enough only half a dozen seconds later the mako was dropped and the ship proceeded to the second target location.

When the _Normandy_ once again decelerated Kaelis led his squad towards the exit ramp and proceed to jump down as soon as the vessel hovered steadily above the ground.

The drop was not far and he landed lightly and unharmed, flexing his legs on impact to absorb the force.

The first thing that struck him as he straightened was the scorching heat, even in thermo-regulated armour it felt like stepping within a handbreadth of an open flame, it did not take long to find the cause. While they were flanked by a shallow rock rise on their right there was a river of lava not far to their left.

The second thing he noticed was how desolate everything appeared; except for the bright lava everything here was a murky bland colour, from the pale blackish basalt rock to the cloudy brown-grey sky. There was not a breeze of wind and no sign of civilisation either. There was not even a hint of life at all, not a blade of grass or insect in the air, and for a moment Kaelis wondered how the Protheans had ever lived here.

Putting that thought behind him he gestured for the two others to move out. According to his helmet display their destination lay about three kilometres in bird's flight somewhat north-east.

The terrain was rocky and uneven but they made steady progress regardless. Despite no sign of hostiles they advanced cautiously as though in enemy terrain; keeping as far away from the lava-rivers as possible they proceeded for some time without complications.

It was not before they rounded the entrance to a pass in the jagged rock formations leading up to the Prothean ruins that they encountered something.

As the three of them entered the maze-like rock arrangements Garrus, who was on point, held up his hand to indicate that the group should halt.

Kaelis moved over to him as stealthily as possible.

"What is it?" he asked quietly.

"I heard something, sounded like footsteps" the turian responded in an equally low voice, nodding his head towards the location.

Moving forward flanked by his two companions Kaelis silently attempted to locate the source of the sound Garrus had heard between the jagged stone walls. Then he too heard something, a couple of footstep followed by an incoherent mechanical stuttering sound.

_Geth_

"Enemy contact" he announced quietly.

Before he had the time to evaluate whether to engage or if discretion was the better part of valour the decision was taken out of his hands. Garrus had unclipped his sniper rifle and aimed it at a rocky ridge above them, Kaelis turned to see a geth sniper taking position with its own rifle aimed at them before Garrus' disrupter round immediately struck it in the chest, passing through its shields and ending its mechanical life.

"They are aware of us. Take them out!" Kaelis ordered.

Wrex sped past his commander, inferno rounds armed shotgun in hand to charge the mechanical foes beyond the passage they were currently occupying.

Kaelis followed suit, his barrier up and his carnifex in hand. Entering the clearing he saw four geth facing them, three ordinary troopers and a rocket armed one.

Immediately sliding into cover he ordered Garrus to eliminate the missile carrier before focusing on the others. He biotically grabbed hold of the closest and flung it into the nearby wall, crushing it. A few seconds after their turian marksman took care of the ordinance trooper and Wrex killed the last two with a couple of well placed close-range shotgun blasts.

After the three of them had secured the area they gathered at the far side of the clearing. Kaelis looked at his two companions while he called up team Beta, addressing his entire squad at once.

"Alenko, we just encountered geth, mission parameters have changed: it is now a Search & Rescue operation. Whether the geth are here to extract, capture or kill it is imperative that we get to Dr. T'soni a-sap"

"Understood Commander" the Lieutenant's voice answered him; the two aliens accompanying him likewise nodded their assent.

He gestured on through the rocky formations.

"Move out"

* * *

The plateau that lay at the entrance to the Prothean ruins were home to a minor building complex at the edge of a lava lake, likely constructed by mining corporations or similar to serves as an operational platform for workers. There was no sign of inhabitants and if the corrosion and neglect were any indication the place had been abandoned long ago.

There was no sign of geth here which came as something of a surprise; they had fought through about a platoon's worth of foes at this point and Beta team had reported that they had located their objective which had turned out to be a small operations outpost for the geth as well; Alenko and the others had destroyed the main force located there in the tank and was even now hunting the stragglers down on foot, they had however warned that a geth drop-ship had taken off as soon as they had arrived and might be heading towards the Prothean ruins at the volcano.

Even though there was no enemies in sight Kaelis and the others were cautious, they all knew it was all too likely a possibility that the geth might have laid an ambush.

"Fan out" he said, indicating for them to sweep the area.

Flanking their commander the two squad members moved slowly and deliberately through towards the ruin entrance.

"Contact!" Garrus abruptly called out, Kaelis turned on the spot to see something vaguely humanoid leaping out of the turian's fire arc with long powerful hind legs like a frog. The thing performed a further three leaps around the building complexes before Kaelis at last got a good look at it.

It was a hopper, a dangerous and particularly advanced kind of geth that the Alliance had only rarely encountered in the recent skirmishes with that mechanical race. The hopper had long flexible legs with near microscopic barbs on hands and feet which allowed it to scale vertical surfaces. Its powerful frog-like limps made it possible for it to manoeuvre about the battlefield in great bounds and leaps, making it a particularly difficult assailant to pin down. Hoppers were very dangerous opponents; capable of using advanced cyber attacks to disable weapons or shields and many carried radiation spectra weapons as deadly as sniper rifles.

Sweeping his trained eyes around Kaelis became aware of the presence of at least two other hoppers beyond the first and dived for cover. Pistol drawn he made ready to take on this new challenge; however a new sound above him then drew his attention. Looking up he saw the geth drop ship that Alenko had warned them about slowly gliding in above them to release its cargo; seven metallic box-like objects dropped from the sky to impact heavily on the ground. One of the objects was well over ten times the mass of the others. The objects transformed themselves from the compact shape they had taken and Kaelis realised that it was actually geth troops dropped directly from the ship, four ordinary soldiers, a shock trooper and a hunter. The last heavy object unfolded itself to take the huge shape of an armature, the tank-sized walkers employed by their foes.

Garrus and Wrex too quickly got into cover knowing that to remain in the open would be suicide.

The walking geth took up a position in the open ground at the middle of the area clear of buildings at the centre of the plateau, the hoppers jumping back and forth on the buildings to pin down their target while their slower allies could finish them off.

His viper sniper rifle practically useless at these ranges Garrus drew his phaeston assault rifle and opened fire. Unfortunately there was enough geth that their individual processors allowed them to use tactics and for the ground troops to take cover against the barrage.

About to move closer to get into short range Wrex retreated back into safety as a blast from the main cannon of the walking tank struck far too close to him for comfort.

_We got to take care of those hoppers before they pin us down completely. _Kaelis thought.

But as a few well-aimed shots from his pistol still went wide due to the agility of his targets that particular plan was proven to be more difficult than anticipated. With the geth ground troops slowly but surely beginning to outflank them he knew that they had to act quickly.

Raising his barrier as he moved he sprinted from his portion in cover outside the building complexes. A nearby geth trooper opened fire upon him but the few rounds that struck true were deflected by his barrier; he repaid the favour by telekinetically throwing the trooper aside which caused it to end up within Garrus' fire-arc and he quickly tore its shields apart before riddling it with disrupter rounds.

As he reached cover at a large boulder near the most leftwards building Kaelis surveyed the battlefield; his two squadmates had managed to destroy the shock trooper and another of the ordinary geth.

Kaelis caught sight of one of the leaping hoppers and with a quick twist of the hand and wrist managed to trap it mid-air in a lifting field.

"Wrex!"

The large krogan reacted immediately, charging his shotgun and sending an inferno round enhanced carnage blast into the helpless hopper. The force of the blast shredded its shields and blew the mechanical fiend apart in a shower of shrapnel.

The second hopper died shortly after; as Garrus finally managed to lock it on target he overloaded its shields and then immediately felled it with a precise wholly of disrupter rounds.

The geth responded in kind. The armature blasted apart the cover shielding Kaelis and he only just managed to scramble out of their line of sight as a pair of the troopers fired at him.

Taking temporary refuge near one of the lower walls he saw that his companions too were in trouble as the geth hunter materialised behind their cover. Wrex immediately charged the hulking construct and engaged it in a savage battle of blows in close quarter combat before it had a chance to use its pulse shotgun.

Seeing a geth trooper trying to flank his two team members Kaelis drew it towards him with a biotic pull before sending the now weightless and powerless geth hurling out into the lava river with a throw.

As he looked back to his squad he saw that while Garrus covered him Wrex was able to beat the hunter into non-functionality with the aid of the strength-enhancing servos of his hardsuit.

That left only a single trooper and hopper as well as the armature.

Another pulse-canon blast destroyed the two aliens' cover and only their shields saved them from the follow-up fire from the armature's ant-infantry machine gun. Luckily with Wrex shielding Garrus behind himself the two of them was able to find new cover before falling prey to the machines.

Seeing an opportunity to take out the last trooper Kaelis fired his carnifex only for the weapon to overheat.

_Damn heat, it plays haywire with the cooling systems._

However the warning runes on his visor display told him that it was not just his pistol; nearly all his electronic systems were scrambled, even his barrier amplifiers were down.

Turning instantaneously he saw the last hopper sitting silently on the wall just behind him, the red targeting beam of its sniper-like weapon dancing over him.

Moving on instinct he threw up his own barrier now that the automated one was disabled; simultaneously he swept his arm around in a curving arc, taking off the hopper's head in a decapitating motion with the cascading warp blade that had materialised from his hand like an omniblade.

The last trooper, now bereft of the enhanced intelligence of its collective brethren was easy prey for the weapons fire of Kaelis' two teammates.

_Only one to go._

Taking cover from the machine gun fire from the huge geth construct he awaited the reboot and self-repairs of the electronic systems in his hardsuit and for his weapon to cool down again.

The amber runes of his display changed back to green and he opened fire on the hulking machine alongside Garrus and Wrex; disrupter, inferno and warp rounds riddling its shields in a precisely concentrated barrage.

While not enough to completely destroy them the combined barrage did manage to weaken the shields enough that Garrus could disable them with a precisely applied overload tech-mine.

The trio again let loose with their collective armaments but like most heavy tanks the walker's chassis was proof against most small arms weapons fire and the attack achieved little more than scratching the plating.

With the armature still reeling from the overload Kaelis fired a warp blast into its armoured thorax. Beyond merely damaged the structural integrity the warp field disrupted and weakened the armour there, softening it for the inferno carnage blast that Wrex immediately fired into it.

Wounded but far from destroyed the armature retaliated; powering up its pulse cannon it prepared to fire. This time however Kaelis was ready for it. Subconsciously synchronising the biotic nodules throughout his nervous system he encased the construct in a mass lowing field and levitated it into the air.

Not having control over where it was aiming the hulking walker's blast went hopelessly wild.

Kaelis felt the strain of holding the walker airborne, even as strong a biotic as he was such a feat was taxing. However his two squadmates made good on the time he had bought them, each continuously firing at the target.

He could see that it was not going to be enough.

_This is not working._

With a rush of biotic energy Kaelis channelled his power into a blast of kinetic energy, violently throwing the colossal construct away from him and half-a-dozen metres out into the lava river.

The walker was quickly consumed in the molten rock and shortly after there was no sign it had even been there.

Kaelis stood quietly while breathing heavily from the exertion. The next thing he knew was that he was hit in the back by what he due to the force first took to be a charging varren but realised was actually Wrex striking him rather vigorously with an open palm on his back.

"Ha. That was some display Shepard; I might not regret coming along after all"

Kaelis gave a weak smile before straitening again and shaking the effect of the mild burning along his nervous system off him.

Taking his pistol in hand again he gestured up the ramp into the Prothean ruins.

"Well, no time to waste, we better find Dr. T'soni"

The three of them set off towards the entrance and prepared for whatever lurked inside.

* * *

Liara looked around; she thought she had heard something.

Turning her head slowly she listened intently but she could not make anything out no matter how much she tried.

She tried one last time to twist her neck as she strained to hear if anything had actually caused the sound or if it had just been her imagination running rampant.

That movement was one of the few still viable to her, while hiding from the Geth that had hunted her she had accidently activated a security field. A sphere of cerulean energy had enveloped her and suspended her in the air with her arms spread out to either side. She was held all but immobile a little less than a metre above the ground. The force bubble somehow allowed her to more or less freely move her head from the neck up but beyond that her movements were restricted to the bare minimum; only just allowing her limbs and fingers to stir slightly and her chest to expand enough for breathing regularly.

Her body was also somewhat numb from the neck down; she suspected that the force shield's energy field served to cause an at least partial paralysis in her nervous system. This coupled with the fact that her limbs were held immobile severely disrupted her ability to focus her biotic powers. Under better circumstances she might still be skilled enough to deactivate the field telekinetically but her fatigue from the hunt had drained what little biotic strength she had left.

She no longer had any idea how long she had been held like this. It must have been a dozen hours easily, perhaps a few days even. It was really beginning to take its toll on her.

She felt weak, her muscles were painful from stiffness of being held in the same position for so long and she was accurately aware that it had been very long since she had last eaten anything.

More worrying was the searing heat. Even under the best circumstances the temperatures here in the ruins would have been unpleasantly warm to the point of being highly uncomfortable but trapped behind an energy barrier that only allowed the heat to be contained and build up rather than disperse for perhaps dozens of hours on end was practically unbearable.

Her thirst was even worse than her hunger and she knew that she was tinkering on the brink of dehydration and hyperthermia. Her lips were raw from the aridity and she assumed that her blood vessels would be near completely dilated as her body in vain attempted to cool itself. She also knew that her clothes were soaking wet from sweat, made even worse by the fact that the ambient force field did not seem to allow the water to evaporate.

An even worse element of her predicament, if that was even possible, was the fear. The geth that were hunting her and their leader were still out there trying to figure out a way to bypass the barrier. She did not know which idea terrified her the most: dying of hyperthermia here alone or be captured by the geth and their krogan leader, something that judging from the battlemaster's snide insinuations was clearly not an enviable fate.

She tried once again to calm herself by performing some mental biotic training; panic would only make things worse. The meditation-like exercises of calming her mind were becoming harder and harder to do though, on top of everything she was beginning to gain a severe headache as a result of the intense heat.

She closed her eyes and tried once more to distract herself, this time with her theories of this place. Then suddenly she snapped her eyes open.

_There it was again_.

She was definitely sure she had heard something this time and that it was not just her imagination.

Liara tentatively called out.

"Uh, hallo?... Can somebody hear me?"

Then she listened, hoping desperately that someone would hear her.


	2. Chapter 2 - A Fateful Meeting

**I would very much like to thank Salser ( u/3929511/Salser) for allowing me to use chapter 13 of her brilliant story Nova et Vetera as inspiration for the end of the last chapter and a good deal of this one :)**

* * *

**Title:** Chapter 2 – A Fateful Meeting  
**Universe:** Mass Effect (ME 1)  
**Major Characters: **Kaelis Terrilian Shepard, Liara T'soni  
**Other Characters: **Garrus Vakarian, Urdnot Wrex, Jeff "Joker" Moreau.  
**Author: **Akernis

Kaelis, Garrus and Wrex moved cautiously. They had moved more in haste than in caution but after they had run into a geth patrol they had continued on more carefully.

The ruins were crawling with geth, they had killed at least twelve since entering and seen another four patrols of between three and eight geth each since in that time span.

Garrus motioned for Kaelis; it appeared that he had found another elevator. The trio entered it and began their descend towards the lower parts of the ruins.

As they descended Kaelis spend a few moments regarding the area. It was certainly large; this small section alone seemed to contain several dozens of individual floors, at the very least. Even though he was not an archaeologist he could clearly see that the place had been well preserved. That anything technological still functioned after fifty thousand years alone was a marvel in and of itself, and many of the devices were not only operational but appeared to be working well. The central chambers seemed to be arranged in a vertical line on the nearly intact far wall that was clearly artificial but blended in well with the natural stone. Each of these chambers seemed to be shielded by what appeared to be some form of energy field that, judging from the clear and brightly glowing cascading energy, seemed as strong as he suspected they would have been the day they were built.

As they were nearing the bottom of this particular level their elevator grinded to a hold with a squeal of twisting metal. The elevator door quickly retracted itself in what could have been either a malfunction or a safety feature.

Looking out Kaelis saw that the distance to the ground was no more than a few metres and signalled for the two others to accompany him down. He did not bother slowing his fall with his biotics. He easily rolled with the landing, robbing the impact of force before he got back up again in one fluid movement. Garrus followed him down, if somewhat less gracefully before Wrex jumped down and landed hard with all the force of his one ton bodyweight.

Kaelis winced at the loudly echoing sound.

_We might have lost the element of surprise during the fire fights earlier but that is no reason to signal our location to half the geth in the ruins._

"You are not coming on the next stealth mission" Garrus told to Krogan in something between a light joke and an exasperated sigh as they moved on again.

"Shepard said we had to get to the asari fast. It is much faster to get straight there and destroying whatever enemies we meet on the way than trying to sneak around them" Wrex responded casually.

Kaelis tried not to let his irritation show. Wrex was technically right but Kaelis still preferred if they did not have to fight through another platoon's worth of geth troopers on their way.

Suddenly Kaelis held up his hand to indicate for the group to stop and the two others fell silent from their bickering immediately. He thought he had heard something that sounded like a voice.

"... can somebody hear me?"

Yes, it was definitely a voice, and clearly a feminine one.

He signalled for the two others to follow him.

Moving past another of the force shielded chambers Kaelis saw that the floor on this level in front of him had collapsed and formed a somewhat broken slope down to the level below. He did not waste any time jumping down, his squadmembers a little while behind.

As he rounded the collapsed floor from the higher level he found, not unsurprisingly, another of the force shielded chambers. Of far more interest however was what, or rather who, was inside it.

Behind the energy barrier an asari was held aloft and suspended within some sort of bluish spherical energy bubble.

As he walked away from the rubble and towards her into view she looked at him, her eyes widening in surprise and tentative relief.

As he approached her Kaelis scrutinised her appearance. She was young, he would probably have guessed her to be the equivalent of a bit younger than he was though he knew enough about asari lifespans to not put much value in that assessment. It was clear that she was rather unwell; though he was not particularly familiar with asari skin colours she looked unusually pale and drained, her exhausted appearance also spoke to the fact that the heat and fatigue must be extremely hard on her. He had no idea how long she had been in this situation but he suspected several hours at the very least, perhaps even days.

As he walked over in front of the energy barrier her eyes locked on his with a slightly apprehensive look before she called out to him.  
"Can you hear me out there? I am trapped. I need help!"

Her voice carried a surprising strength and lucidity beyond what he would have expected from someone in her condition. The clarity on her face and especially in her eyes also showed a noticeable alertness and responsiveness that made Kaelis suspect that she was not suffering nearly as much strain from her ordeal as most would have under the circumstances.

"Liara T'soni, I presume" he said.

Her face briefly lit up in a display of relief.

"Thank the Goddess! I did not think anyone would come looking for me" she drew a breath and continued "Listen, this thing I am in is a Prothean security device. I cannot move so I need you to shut it down, allright?"

Though Kaelis' soldier instinct told him to be cautious and suspicious about the young asari he felt a subtle and near inexplicable compulsion to help and protect her. He overwrote the feeling, he needed to remain focused.

"These geth works for Saren and so does your mother. Whose side are you on?"  
The question was blunt to the point of being nearly callous but he needed to see her reaction. He knew that he was perfectly within his right to ask and even obligated to do so in order to be certain but even so he felt an unpleasant stab of guilt at his conscience for attacking the young woman's feelings like that, especially when she was in this situation.

"What? I am not on anybody's side!" her voice and expression took on a note of shocked aggression though neither carried any actual hostility. She lowered her head a bit before looking up at him again.  
"I may be Benezia's daughter, but I am nothing like her. I have not spoken to her in years, and I have no idea where she is or what she is doing" at the last sentence her face became lined with regret and her voice took on a tone of mild sorrow.  
She seemed hurt at the prospect of her estrangement from her mother and of her having joined up with Saren.

As Kaelis saw her reaction it was as if a previously unnoticed weight was lifted from his chest and he could breath more freely again. His military logic and keenly trained mind told him that she could be lying or leaving something out. But he trusted his feelings and there was something about her, something that when he looked into her eyes made him trust her.

Though even so he still needed a clearer picture of what had happened here.

"How did you end up in there?" he asked; his tone cordial this time.

"I was exploring the ruins when the Geth showed up, so I hid in here" she answered "Can you believe that? Geth! Beyond the veil! I activated the tower's defences. I knew the barrier curtain would keep them out." Her voice became a bit more hesitant.

"But when I turned it on I must have hit something I wasn't supposed to. I was trapped in here"

She looked him pleadingly into his eyes.  
"You must get me out. Please."

The desire to help returned and Kaelis nodded to her.

"We will find some way to help you" he said.

"There is a control panel in here that should deactivate this thing" she said "but you will have to find some way past the barrier curtain. That's the tricky part. The defences cannot be shut off from the outside. I don't know how you will get in here" her expression became somewhat worrying.  
"Be careful. There is a krogan battlemaster with the geth. They have been trying different ways to get past the barrier"

Kaelis nodded his understanding.

"Don't worry; we will get you out of there"

Then without wasting further valuable time he turned around and, gesturing for his squadmembers to follow him, headed out to find some way around the force barrier to reach the young archaeologist.

* * *

Jumping down Kaelis looked around at the enormous hole that the mining laser had melted through the armoured wall at the ground floor as if it had been candle wax.

"Isn't it nice to find conveniently placed ordinance just lying around ready and waiting when you need it?" Garrus asked no one in particular.

"Nice to have things going our way for a change" Kaelis responded optimistically.

"Certainly beats having to dig through here ourselves that is for sure" the turian said.

They found their way back up to the force shielded chamber where Dr. T'soni were and to Kaelis' immense relief found that it was only shielded from the outside.

As his two squadmembers stood back to make sure the area was secure Kaelis moved over to help her.

As he neared she craned her neck to the left as far as she could, just enough to allow her to hold him within her peripheral vision.

"How... how did you get in here? I did not think that there was any way past the barrier curtain" perplexity and relief vied for control in her voice.

"We blasted through with the mining laser" Kaelis told her simply.

She seemed momentarily stunned by this revelation.

"Of course, yes, that makes sense" she shook her head as if to clear it "please, get me out of here before more geth arrive. That panel over there should be able to disable the containment field"

Kaelis acknowledged and went over to the control panel she had indicated with a tilt of her head.

_Right, let's get the poor girl out of her predicament._

Then when he reached the control panel it occurred to him that he had no idea how to operate Prothean tech. However as soon as he looked at it he got the feeling that he actually knew perfectly well what to do. As he let his hand glide over the holographic display it almost instinctively found the functions he needed without conscious choice as easily as if he had been brought up around Prothean tech.

In only short time he found the function that allowed him to disable the security field. Then, as soon as he did so, the force bubble around T'soni dissipated into nothing and she fell hard to the floor. The instant she landed her legs gave way beneath her and she collapsed to the ground with a soft cry of pain.

Kaelis cursed his own carelessness and moved over to her. As she pushed herself up to a half sitting position he extended his hand to help her back up. She took it and allowed him to pull her up.

Kaelis took a step back and allowed her to get her bearings. Even under the circumstances and despite her current condition Kaelis could not fail to notice how appreciatively appealing the young asari looked. Her body was graceful and while by no account muscular was easily honed to be in fit shape. Her face was pretty and under better circumstances Kaelis was fairly certain that she would look exquisite.

"Here" Kaelis said as she straightened, handing her a small but full water-container previously affixed to his armour "it is not much but it should take the edge of the thirst"

The near dehydrated asari accepted gratefully and drank the water before following Kaelis back to where Wrex and Garrus stood.

As Kaelis turned to face her again he could see that even if she was not exactly weak T'soni's ordeal had taken a lot out of her.

Noticing that her eyes rested on the alliance icon on his armour it suddenly occurred to him that he had yet to introduce himself.

"Dr. T'soni. My name is Kaelis Terrilian Shepard, Lieutenant-Commander of the Alliance Navy and member of the Special Tactics & Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel"

"Spectre!?" T'soni asked in obviously anxious surprise.

Kaelis nodded though he smiled kindly at her to put her more at ease.

She shook off her mild disconcertion and composed herself.

"Any ideas of how we get out of this place" Garrus asked the archaeologist who turned to answer him.

"There is an elevator back at the centre of the tower" she responded "or at least, I think it is an elevator. It should take us out of here".

The four of them moved over the central platform in the middle of the structure.

"I still cannot believe all this. Why would the geth come after me?" She looked at Kaelis again "do you think that Benezia is involved?"

"Saren is looking for some kind of Prothean device called the Conduit and seeing as you are a Prothean expert it seem likely that he wants your help in finding it" Kaelis answered her.

"The Conduit? But I don't know-" she stopped suddenly as a powerful tremor ran through the structure.

"What the hell was that" Wrex asked; his voice as clam as if he had just remarked upon the possibility of rain.

"These ruins are not stable" T'soni said "that mining laser must have triggered a seismic event".

She went over to access the central console.  
"We have to hurry: the whole place is caving in, the volcano might even be erupting"

Her hands dancing over the controls she swiftly activated the elevator and beginning its ascend.

Kaelis raised his hand to his comm-link.

"Joker! Get the _Normandy _airborne and lock in on my signal. On the double mister!"

"Aye aye Commander, secure and away. ETA: eight minutes" Joker responded immediately.

"If I die in here I'll kill him" Wrex added as an afterthought, certainly all too aware of the irony in the statement.

Kaelis looked up towards the ceiling as the platform raised itself towards it.

The ride to the top was agonisingly slow and the incrementally increasing trembling that was starting to shake the entire structure did not bode well for their escape.

After what seemed like a small eternity they arrived at the pinnacle floor.

As the elevating platform came to a halt Kaelis saw movement ahead, coming from the one tunnel leading out to the surface.

A group of five geth – three normal troopers, a sniper and a juggernaught – moved into the chamber's entrance. They were flanking the largest krogan Kaelis had ever seen which he presumed to be the battlemaster T'soni had mentioned.

Kaelis thought that Wrex was more than big enough but this krogan was at least a third of a metre taller and equally broader over the shoulders. His head and cranial plate was so covered in scars that Kaelis would not be the least bit surprised to know if he had once taken a short from a grenade launcher to the face. His eyes were small and narrowed to slits that promised nothing but murder. He wore battle armour that was so heavy that it made him look more like a walking tank than ground warrior.

The krogan took up position squarely in the centre of the chamber entrance, blocking the exit.

_We do not have time for this!_

"Is there a reason you are in my way?" Kaelis asked menacingly.  
Predictably the krogan did not bat an eyelash.

"The same reason you are here: the asari" The krogan's voice was low and rumbling deep to the point where Kaelis was momentarily in doubt of whether he actually heard or felt it and he swore that this monster must have had testosterone flowing though its veins rather than blood.

"Thanks for getting rid of those energy fields for us" the krogan said "hand the doctor over" his tone all too clearly indicative of what the consequences of refusal to comply would be.

Thought he did not notice it himself Kaelis took a step protectively in front of T'soni.

"Whatever it is you want you are not getting it from me!" the young asari said defiantly and Kaelis respect for her rose.

"She will stay with us thanks" Kaelis told the massive krogan. He saw out of the corner of his eye that T'soni turned her head to look at him in what looked like disbelief at him being willing to take on a battlemaster.

"Not an option, Saren wants her. And he always gets what he was" the battlemaster turned to his geth troopers "kill them. Spare the asari if you can. If not... doesn't matter"

Now Kaelis stepped fully in front of her, his body rippling with waves of cerulean energy and his eyes glowing with bright blue power.

"Now!" He told his team members and before the geth had even raised their rifles Garrus threw the grenade he had primed during the conversation and Wrex biotically charged the geth line with his shotgun in hand.

Kaelis turned briefly to the woman behind him.

"Find cover!"

She nodded; her eyes were wide in fright. She quickly scrambled away from the firing and into relative cover while biotically shielding herself with what little energy she had left.

With a warp blast Kaelis destroyed one of the geth troopers that Garrus had overloaded before he was thrown aside by a blast of force from the left. As he struck violently against one of the chamber pillars he saw the krogan charging towards him while it too glowed with energy.

_Dammit, I forgot, krogan battlemasters are also biotics._

Swiftly orientating himself of his team members he saw that Garrus was exchanging fire with the various smaller geth while Wrex was fighting the juggernaught. He was not going to get any help from that quarter soon.

Dodging aside as the krogan charged he fired at it at near blank-point range. It was of little use, he might as well have been throwing pebbles for all the damage he inflicted on its near tank-grade heavy shields. The krogan brought its shotgun to bear but he managed to dodge out of its fire-arch.  
He retaliated by sending the krogan flying through the chamber with a vicious thrust of telekinetic force.

While the battlemaster got up again he once more filled its shields with rounds from his pistol, though this time they were encased in miniature warp fields and did significantly more damage to the kinetic barriers, but it was still far from enough to penetrate the formidable defences.  
Before it rushed close again the krogan let loose with a singularity that caught Kaelis within its radius. Before the gravitational sphere had begun warping his barriers apart with its power he dissipated it with a surge of dark energy of his own. But the damage was already done; the krogan had bought the time it had needed to once again get within close weapons range. The shotgun blast that followed after Kaelis was dropped to the ground from the singularity took him square in the chest but was luckily dispelled by his barrier.

Frantic to avoid being shredded by the weapon Kaelis grabbed hold biotically of the claymore shotgun in the krogan's hands and destroyed it in the imploding forces of a crushing mass effect field.  
The battlemaster did not take kindly to that and crashed into him with full force of a charge that threw him violently to the ground before it proceeding to attack him with the brute force with which its race so excelled.  
Up this close the battlemaster's kinetic shields were of little use but while Kaelis' barriers were fully functional at any range as they were directed by him rather than any technological triggers they too would not last long.

The battlemaster began landing one savage blow on him after another. Under normal circumstances such an attack would be in no danger of penetrating Kaelis' biotic barrier but the krogan was not only immensely powerful and wearing a suit of armour that augmented that strength further but each of its blows send biotic power crackling from its fists, slowly tearing the barrier apart.  
Not being able get a shot of at this range Kaelis fought back with everything he got. A precise and severe strike of his own struck the krogan straight in the stomach but the heavy armour and superlative krogan resilience was such that it felt like striking a wall with his bare fist.

Giving a scornful grunt the krogan kicked him savagely in the chest and sent him flying back several metres.

Getting up he felt a burning sensation after the impact, he doubted that he had broken anything but that might very well soon follow.

_Okay... new plan._

As the battlemaster made ready to attack yet again it in turn was charged by another angry krogan. Wrex was wounded from his fight with the juggernaught but he took on the monstrosity of their opponent nonetheless.

Using the brief respite his companion had given him Kaelis orientated himself of the combat. Garrus was well engaged in combat with the last geth and T'soni was standing frozen halfway behind cover, as if petrified by what was happening before her.

As Garrus felled the last of the geth troopers Kaelis called him over to assist Wrex and himself.

The two of them charged into the combat but at that moment the two battlemasters' own battle came to an end and Wrex was not the victor. Their enemy detonated a powerful grenade at near point blank range which its own shields protected against but Wrex's depleted ones could not; as it followed up with what must have been an extraordinarily powerful blow their enemy sent the slightly smaller krogan crashing back into a pillar that collapsed on top of him.

Krogan were hardy individuals and Kaelis doubted that Wrex was too severely wounded but he was at the very least out of the combat for now.

The battlemaster then lashed out with his biotic powers toward both Kaelis and Garrus simultaneously. Kaelis blocked the attack with his own abilities but Garrus was caught in the gravitational lift and was as such unable to dodge the follow up biotic blast that took him square in the torso and threw him violently back through the room where he struck the interior wall and collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut. Kaelis did not have time to check whether he was going to be all right for at that moment the krogan was on him.

Taking its first attack on his forearm he circled the hulking monster as the momentum of its second attack carried it past him. As soon as he was behind the krogan he let loose with a blast of warp energy he had charged only moments before. The blast finally burned the shield out and the twisting disruption fields severely damaged the armour by tearing into it at the molecular level.

Growling in anger the krogan turned on the sport and let loose with a singularity. Acting on reflexes honed to a razor edge Kaelis fired a throw to intercept the miniaturised biotic black hole. The two biotic attacks collided in mid-air between them in a cataclysmic dark energy detonation. Each of the combatants was barely more than a metre from the centre of the explosion and both took the full force of the blast.  
Kaelis felt the searing pain of the attack as he was violently thrown away. The disrupting biotic energy released by the attack felt as if his veins, nerves and biotic nodules were on fire and he felt sharp edges of his ruined body armour drawing blood across his skin. He was fairly certain that he was only alive because his barrier had mitigated a substantial amount of the power from the blast.

Painfully he got back up and saw that so too did the krogan. Its battleplate armour was devastated beyond recognition and it was covered in dark splotches of orange blood from a new multitude of wounds. That the monster was even still standing without shield protection was a testament to the near unbelievable properties of krogan resilience.  
Before Kaelis had time to draw his pistol and finish the job his adversary was on him yet again. Its wounds seemed to have heightened the krogan's savage ferocity but its speed and precision was suffering for it.  
Darting nimbly, if painfully, back and forth between the attacks Kaelis manifested a warp blade of cascading biotic energy from his left wrist and stabbed the krogan twice in some of its primary vital organs in what to any other species would have been lethal thrusts.  
The sever loss of blood seemed to send krogan into some kind of berserker rage and as Kaelis moved in for a third strike he caught a glancing blow that sent him spinning to the ground and nearly fractured his shoulder in the process.  
As the battlemaster jumped him the two of them engaged in a savage brawl that would probably soon crush Kaelis through sheer force and weight if he did not escape. The krogan's head was barely twenty centimetres from his at this point. The monster looked practically feral now. Its pupils were completely contracted so they appeared as little more than specks of black in the blood red irises and the scarred mouth was twisted into a bestial snarl. Kaelis could see Its neck veins pulsing fiercely with blood and suddenly he knew where to strike.  
With a dexterous manoeuvre he twisted his left hand around and stabbed the warp blade into the krogan's neck, perforating the carotid artery on the dark energy edge. The massive krogan howled in rage and agony. The wound was fatal but the krogan would not die immediately and would be more dangerous than ever. With the severe pain of his opponent giving him a few precious seconds Kaelis darted in for the kill.  
Dissipating the warp blade he grabbed hold of the krogan's head and with a surge of servo and biotic power enhanced strength snapped the neck with enough force to sever the spinal column. The krogan finally dropped dead like a stone.

Panting heavily Kaelis got up and looked down at the corpse.

_I would like to see you come back from that..._

_On second thought. _

He drew his carnifex and put a pair of warp rounds into its skull for good measure before holstering his weapon again.

The danger passed he moved to make sure his three companions were allright, they all needed to get out of here quickly.

* * *

"T'soni!"

A jolt of energy caused through Liara and snapping her back from her almost petrified paralysis of terror. Shaking she fixed her sight on the commander.

"We need to get moving" he said in a tone that brokered no arguments, not that she would ever have given any considering their circumstances.

The spectre's two companions were both on their feet again and she hurriedly joined them at the entrance to the chamber.

The entire ruin seemed to be collapsing. Powerful tremors shook the cavern like an earthquake and rocks ranging in size from fists to small vehicles came crashing down with enough force to easily crush anyone beneath them.

All of them set off in a sprint. Liara was furthest behind with the commander in the lead, doing his best to shield against or throw away particularly dangerous pieces of falling debris with telekinesis.

Despite doing her utmost to keep up with the rest of them Liara could feel her muscles searing in agony. She had barely had any strength left in her; the ordeal had voraciously draining her energy and every step was an effort of will more taxing than the last.

Lacking dangerously behind she attempted to call out but she could not even release a cry, her lungs burned and each ragged breath of air felt like scorching knives at her throat.

Reaching a junction of corridors, one of which leading upwards the commander cast a glance over his shoulder and stopped, waving each of them past him up towards the relative safety of the surface.  
As he saw her he turned around and headed back for her.

As the commander reached her he took hold of her arm and pulled it over his shoulder around his neck while he took hold around her waist with his other arm, supporting her weight as he half-carried as much as pulled her along.

The support of someone being there to help her as much as the purely physical assistance gave Liara the strength she needed and she poured every last iota of energy she possessed into running and making it out of here alive with the others.

Then she saw light up ahead and shortly thereafter the two of them broke the surface to emerge out into the open with the tunnel collapsing thunderously behind them.

As soon as they were free of the danger of being buried alive or crushed to death the commander let go of her and she supported herself with her hands on her knees while desperately breathing for air. As she looked at the commander she was not surprised to see that given what he had just been through he too looked like someone who was standing due to nothing but will and adrenaline.

Then just as she thought it was over a ear-splitting explosion of cataclysmic force drew the attention of all of them to the volcano housing the Prothean ruin they had just escaped from which was even now erupting with all the ferocious power such a monstrous natural catastrophe could bring to bear.

Liara's mind had barely even begun to comprehend the danger of what she was seeing before something equally momentous for them happened. Seemingly out of nowhere the starship that the commander had called in shortly after releasing her swooped in extraordinarily gracefully to hover barely a few metres from them before lowering its rear hatch for them to board.

Despite being the closest the commander did not board until both of his companions and she was safely aboard. As soon as he jumped in behind her the ramp closed after them and Liara felt a subtle sensation of accelerating away.

Looking over at the human who had saved her life Liara managed a weak but sincere smile before she collapsed to the floor from the strain of exhaustion.

The last thing she saw before she finally passed out was a pair of scintillating green eyes looking down at her in fearful worry. And then everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3 - Embrace Eternity

**Title:** Chapter 3 – Embrace Eternity  
**Universe:** Mass Effect (ME 1)  
**Major Characters:** Kaelis Terrilian Shepard, Liara T'soni  
**Other Characters: **Garrus Vakarian, Urdnot Wrex, Kaiden Alenko, Ashley Williams, Jeff "Joker" Moreau, Tali Zorah nar Rayya  
**Author:** Akernis

Liara felt strange memories touching the recesses of her mind and wondered what half-formed dream was easing her passage back into consciousness since she must have passed out from fatigue and hyperthermia trapped in the ruins.

She realised that she must be awakening from a lapse into unconsciousness. The dream became more vivid as she slowly regained her awareness. She had dreamt that she had been rescued from her peril by a human commander and his strange choice of allies. She wondered why that had happened, why would she dream about being rescued by a human, and a spectre even at that? There were no human spectres as far as she was aware and she would have thought that her mind would seek safety and comfort in familiar surroundings and have her escaping on her own or being found by fellow asari, some old friends of hers perhaps who somehow knew where to find her. Certainly not a human which was one of the races she would have thought her mind was least likely to have chosen to save her.

The clarity of the dream was also surprising; the more she became awake the more clear and alive the dream seemed to become rather than fading like all but the most prominent dreams normally would. Her memory had always been excellent but like for everyone dreams normally were like an intangible mist that slipped through one's mind whenever one tried to focus on it. However she noticed that she could recall even the most minute and inconspicuous of details from this one.

But however strange the dream had been a comforting one and as lucidity slowly began returning she found herself silently begging it not to leave her and let her wake up to the cruel reality of being trapped underground while hunted by geth.

As she became progressively more aware she wondered why she did not feel worse than she did. Was her condition so bad that she could no longer even feel the ravaging heat against her skin? Or the arching of her body protesting to its harsh treatment?

But if that was the case then why could she feel wonderfully cool air against her face? Why did her body feel comfortably resting on something fairly soft instead of painfully suspended in the air?

In the disjointed and almost surrealistic moment of semi-consciousness between being asleep and awake her mind tried to make sense of the conflicting and contradictory information that her dreams, memories and sensations told her.

She opened her eyes.

The first thing she saw was the light. It was mercifully subdued so it did not hurt her eyes at the sudden transition from impenetrable darkness to subtle luminosity.

As she returned to the realm of the conscious her memories began to solidify and she remembered what had happened down in the Prothean ruin. It had not just been a some hopeful dream, she remembered how she had been found and rescued and managed to board the starship of the human that had saved her alongside him and his people before passing out.

Liara sat up to look around but quickly regretted that particular course of action as her head started spinning rapidly and hurt from the sudden shift in balance orientation so soon following recuperation. She closed her eyes again and pressed both hands to her forehead to relieve the abrupt headache that had pulsed into being.

"Easy, relax" a soft voice told her. With the pain gradually fading she started slowly lowering her hands and opened her eyes again.

Her vision had stopped swimming and she became aware of the fact that she was in some kind of medical facility. She had been lying down on her back on a firm but comfortably padded operating table that softly took the weight of her body and distributed the pressure evenly.

While comparatively small the facility seemed to be state of the art. It contained quite a few cutting edge medical tools and devices that she would have normally expected to see in a Citadel hospital; such as efficient medigel dispensers for treatment of immediate wounds, an advanced salarian diagnostic oculator for scanning and identifying ailments and injuries, and a top-of-the-line asari created cellular regenerator for assisting the body by rapidly increasing the natural healing process. Like most such facilities it was clean and sanitary to the point of being sterile.

Slowly getting her bearings Liara turned her attention towards the person she had heard.

A human woman walked over from the entrance of the infirmary to come and stand in front of Liara's makeshift bed.

She appeared to be in her late middle years. Her hair was a pale greying colour which Liara believed was associated with advanced age, or the appearance of premature aging due to stress, amongst humans. She had a kind, slightly lined face with a compassionate almost motherly expression. She wore a medical uniform embroidered with the icon of the human Alliance and Liara guessed, not unreasonably, that she was the doctor here.

"My name is Doctor Chakwas. How are you feeling?" the woman asked her in a kind and calming voice.

"Better, thank you" Liara responded hesitantly, she was still not entirely sure about her circumstances here.

"Ehm, excuse me, but where am I?" She asked.

"Aboard the _Normandy_; an advanced prototype frigate of the Alliance though now technically under jurisdiction of the Citadel Council as its captain, Commander Shepard, has been appointed a member of the Spectres. I believe the two of you have already met"

As Dr. Chakwas turned to look over towards the entrance Liara realised that the two of them were not alone. The human that had rescued her stood over just inside the infirmary and seeing as he was being invited to the conversation walked over to join her as well.

It was first now that Liara was able to get a good look at him; doing their encounter in the ruins she had been too preoccupied to really take note of his appearance, the fact that he had been wearing full body armour with helmet had not particularly helped the matter either.

Commander Shepard was tall, long-limped and lean of build. While certainly fit and athletic his physique was rather slender and agile, resembling more that of a gymnast than a marine. His bright brown hair crowned his head almost like a nest of untidy soft thorns. She saw that he regarded her keenly with the strikingly green almond shaped eyes that were the last thing she remembered seeing before falling unconscious. If she should hazard a guess she would say that he was in the human equivalent of middle maiden years. As such he would be easily mature but fairly young for such an elevated position. There was a vigorous vitality about him that seemed almost at odds with the calm and naturally assertive authority that practically emanated from him.

Noticing that she had been staring Liara bashfully lowered her gaze from the Commander. She was still not sure what exactly was going on here and where she stood with the Spectre.

"Doctor" the Commander said and looking up again Liara saw that the question was directed at the medical officer rather than her "is she going to be alright?"

"Yes. She is going to be fine. All she needs is some more rest" Dr. Chakwas said, Liara imagined as much for her, Liara's, sake as that of the Commander.

"Glad to hear it" he said and turned to her.

"I am sorry to interrupt your recuperation but this should to be handled as soon as possible. Are you feeling well enough for a debriefing?"

"I... I think so" Liara said, she was still not entirely sure where this was going but they were treating her kindly enough and did not seem to have any ill intentions towards her.

Liara noticed that the doctor frowned slightly at her Commander when he asked; she assumed that Dr. Chakwas was not particularly fond of her patient being called away before she was properly rested after her ordeal.

"Commander, she really should be allowed time to properly recover and get her bearings before you drag her to a mission debriefing"

"I know, but the report to the Council is already away and they will want to know everything as soon as possible" the Commander replied somewhat ruefully.

As the medical doctor made to reply Liara hurried to intervene.

"It is allright doctor, I am feeling much better" Liara assured her, she was not entirely sure how humans normally handled such things, never mind human militaries, but there was no reason to cause tension for her sake.

Chakwas looked at her with an evaluating eye but made no attempt to dissuade her.

"Very well, just don't overexert yourself" She said in the tone of a mother who is wondering whether she had just given her child too free reign.

"It is just a debriefing doctor, I am not taking her into combat" The Commander said, shaking his head slightly amused before he raised his hand to his ear.

"Joker, tell the ground team to assemble in the communications room for a debriefing" he waited a moment before nodding once, probably in reflex to an acknowledgement from his comm-bead.

He looked back at Liara again.

"When you are ready come and join us in the communications room, Dr. Chakwas can show you the way"

The Commander turned around and left her to prepare.

Liara slowly got down from the operating table, careful to avoid another flare of headaches. Though she had absently noted it before it now occurred to Liara that she was wearing a simple hospital gown rather than her usual outfit.

"Ehm, doctor? Do you have something I could wear?" she asked.

"Yes, your archaeologist uniform is lying over there; I had it prepared for when you would wake up"

As she got dressed and took some water to properly satiate her still lingering thirst Liara wondered what would happen. Her life had certainly taken an unexpected turn. She was not only aboard a human ship, but a military one under the command of a Spectre nonetheless. That very thought should probably have terrified her but as of yet she had not felt threatened at all and while apprehensive she could not help but be intrigued about what all this was about.

* * *

When Kaelis arrived he found that Ashley and Garrus were already there, each nodding to him in turn.

As he returned the gesture he became aware of how relaxed he had already begun to become around his crew, treating them as much as companions as subordinates.

Reaching the centre of the room and awaiting the rest of the ground team he pondered from where he had gotten that particular behaviour. It was certainly not something he had learned in training. Quite the contrary; his less than exemplary adherence to protocol and procedure was one of the things his superiors – well, except for Anderson – had certainly frowned upon more often than not.

He suspected that it was probably in large part a lingering legacy from his parents' influence. Though both would easily be described as firm and determined military personal his mother had always been tolerant, friendly and empathic and his father had been a man who had deeply respected and valued friends, family and those who served with him alike.

It might also have more than a fair deal to do his friends in the N7 training program.

Kaelis had had four friends doing his training, each of whom were not only extraordinary soldiers in their own right but quite remarkable individuals that he was sure would each be a hero of their own adventures. Though it had been a rough going in the beginning the five of them had formed close bonds of respect and fellowship forged in the cauldron of fire and battle. Close associations like that was frowned upon when serving together in the military but Kaelis had experienced not only how good it felt to have friends but the strength you could draw from them fighting alongside you on the frontline.

Since then he had always been on closer personal relation with those he served with than protocol advised, but at as a spectre he was finally given free reign without having anyone breathing down his neck about it.

He was shaken out of his thoughts by the arrival of Wrex and shortly thereafter Tali. Both took their seats in the circular room without a word before awaiting the arrival of the least participants.

Having not really had much of a chance to check with the various squad members Kaelis was glad to see that no one seemed to be having gotten particularly hurt in the last mission. Garrus was walking with a slightly stilted gait that would probably have vanished within a few days and Wrex spotted a rather nasty looking burn to the side of his throat that he barely seemed to notice and that Dr. Chakwas had assured Kaelis would barely even leave a faint scar.

He himself felt quite sore in the shoulder that had nearly been fractured in the fight with the Krogan but little more than that. All in all he considered the mission a good one; well, except for the fact that a major Prothean ruin had been destroyed. He was quite sure that the Council would give him some grief about that but there was not really anything he could do or could have done about it so he would, however regretfully, just have to take that in stride.

The door to the communications chamber slide aside to permit Kaidan entrance with Dr. T'soni following alongside him; it seemed that the lieutenant had been kind enough to escort her up here seeing as she was new aboard the vessel.

Without any delay Kaiden walked over to his position besides Ashley and the young asari took a seat between Tali and Wrex on Kaelis' left.

With everyone present the debriefing could begin.

"Joker, set a course for the nearest comm-buoy, I want us linked to the network a-sap" He informed the flight-lieutenant as an afterthought. Provided the Council was already aware of the situation from the report that had been sent as they based the last buoy they might want to check in for a more detailed status update.

"Aye, aye Commander" Joker responded almost cheerfully before adding "oh, and Commander the next time we have to make a rescue from a literal hot zone we might want not to get so close. A few more minutes and we would have been swimming in molten sulphur. The Normandy isn't equipped to land in exploding volcanoes. They tend to fry our systems and melt out hull... just for future reference"

A soft electronic click signalled that with his parting joke the pilot had closed the connection.

"We almost died down there and your pilot is making jokes?" Dr. T'soni asked incredulously.

"It is a coping mechanism" Kaelis assured her "you will get used to it" it had been quite some time since he himself had grown used to Joker's idiosyncratic behaviour and learned to appreciate his pilot's honest if light-hearted attitude but he suspected that it might not be equally understandable for everyone.

"I see" she said "it must be a human thing. I don't have a lot of experience dealing with your species Commander"

Kaelis acknowledged that and decided to get to the heart of the matter.

"I will brief you on the details later but to cut a long story short; a former Spectre named Saren Arterius has gone rogue. He has somehow managed to get geth under his command and used them to attack a human colony called Eden Prime. Through a convoluted series of events we managed to prove his culpability to the Council by acquiring some evidence which..."

Kaelis halted for a moment to regard his listener. T'soni was looking at him keenly, taking in every word he said.

"... which – I am sorry to say – included an audio recording of Matriarch Benezia working alongside Saren"

It did not come as a surprise to her this time but Kaelis could nonetheless clearly see how crestfallen the young asari became about hearing of her mother's involvement. Though he knew had to bring it up and get it out of the way he quickly went on in an attempt to give her the small mercy of coming to terms with it when she had some time on her own.

"In response the Council appointed me as a Spectre and sent me and my crew out to find and stop Saren by whatever means necessary. Due to your possible connection to Saren through Benezia we figured it was a good idea to find you as soon as possible"

At this she nodded thankfully.

"I am grateful to you Commander. You saved my life back there, and not just from the volcano. Those geth would have killed me or dragged me of to Saren" she said.

"What did Saren want with you?" Kaiden asked.

"I do not know" she answered perplexed "as I said in the ruins I have not spoken with Benezia in many years and I have no idea what Saren would want my aid with"

"Saren is looking for some kind of Prothean device called the Conduit" Kaelis said "when I mentioned it in the ruins you sounded like you had heard about it before"

The archaeologist straightened a bit in her seat and seemed to relax slightly; she appeared to become more comfortable now that she had a topic she could better relate to.

"The Conduit is a near mythological contraption of the late Prothean Empire. There is scarcely any mention about it throughout any found records or sources and nothing that might give a clue to its supposed function or location. The only thing that is reasonably certain is that it was somehow connected to the Prothean extinction. That is my real area of expertise. I have spent the last fifty years trying to figure out what happened to them"

"How old are you exactly?" Kaelis asked curiously, he knew asari lifespans were considerably different from that of humans but he was not really that familiar with the details of their life stages and corresponding ages.

T'soni blushed slightly; the faint purple tinted her cheeks was strangely endearing.

"I hate to admit it. But I am only a hundred and six"

"Damn" Ashley interjected "I hope I look that good when I am your age"

"A century may seem like a long time for a short-lived species like yours. But amongst the asari I am barely considered more than a child" T'soni responded.

Kaelis knew she was exaggerating, but they all got the gist of it. Despite already having worked extensively she was still only in the very beginning of her adult life.

"That is why my research has not received the attention it deserves. Because of my youth other asari scholars tend to... dismiss my theories on what happened to the Protheans"

"Did your research turn up anything interesting" Kaelis asked her, allowing her to move at her own pace and if he should be honest he felt intrigued at what she said.

"What is interesting is what I did not turn up" she answered "there is remarkably little archaeological knowledge of the Protheans. And even less that might explain why they disappeared. It is as if someone came along after the Protheans were gone and cleansed the galaxy of clue. But here is the incredible part. According to my findings the Protheans were not the first civilisation to mysteriously vanish"

"I have never heard of that" Kaelis said somewhat surprised, though interested in it he was hardly an expert on the matter of galactic history but he was fairly certain that something like this would have been given more attention.

"Is this your own theory?" he asked her.

"Yes" she said the word with the ever-so-slightly defensive air of someone open-minded but used to scepticism.

"How did you come up with it? I thought you said that there wasn't really any evidence" he asked her.

"I have been working on this for fifty years" she said, her demeanour changing to sanguinity as she was being asked with curiosity rather than being challenged.

"I have tracked down every scrap and shred of evidence. Eventually subtle patterns started to emerge. Patterns that hinted the truth. It is difficult to explain to someone else..."

She hesitated, as if uncertain of whether she should continue but eventually deciding to speak her mind freely.

"I can't point to one specific thing to prove my case. It is more... a feeling derived from half a century of dedicated research. But I know I am right. And eventually I will be able to prove it"

Her voice was strangely devoid of the arrogance that he had come to expect of many scientists convinced that they alone were right. In its place were only a desire and eagerness to really find out the truth of what had happened.

"There were other civilisations before the Protheans. This cycle has repeated itself many times over" she finished.

"What do you mean by cycle?" Kaelis asked somewhat perplexed, from the way she was saying it sounded almost like these extinctions were pre-determined.

"The galaxy is build on a cycle of extinction" she explained "Each time a great civilisation rises up it is suddenly and violently cast down, only ruins survive. The Protheans rose up from a single world until their empire spanned the entire galaxy. Yet even they clipped to the top on the remains of those that came before. Their greatest achievements – the Mass Relays and the Citadel – are based on the technology of those that came before them. And then like all the other forgotten civilisations through galactic history, the Protheans disappeared. I have dedicated my life to finding out why."

_Death. Destruction. Doom.  
__Darkened sky and burning ruins. The fall of a civilisation, an aeon.  
__Fear, despair. People fighting, fleeing. Dying, butchered.  
__Dreams of hope crushed. Nightmares of horror filing the night.  
__Monsters moving through the mayhem. Machines of terror and death.  
__Stalking, hunting. Killing, slaughtering. Harvesting, __**reaping**__.  
_"_We are the harbingers of your destruction"_

Kaelis shook his head lightly to clear the afterimages away. Suddenly he was all too aware of what the young archaeologist was talking about.

"I think I might know" Kaelis said "they were wiped out by a race of sentient machines: the Reapers"

T'soni's eyes went wide with bewilderment.

"The- the Reapers? But I have never heard of— how do you know this? What evidence do you have?"

Her voice had taken on a tone of excitement ranging on the edge of anxiety as if she was afraid the information might slip away from her any moment.

"There was a damaged Prothean beacon on Eden Prime. It burned a vision into my mind. I am still trying to figure out what it all means" Kaelis answered her.

He wondered whether she would even believe him or simply dismiss the idea out of hand like the Council had. But his fear proved unfounded as the asari's eyes near immediately lit up in recognition.

"Visions? Yes, that makes sense. The beacons were designed to transmit information directly into the mind of the user. Finding one that still works is extremely rare to the point of being a virtually unique discovery. No wonder the geth attacked Eden Prime. The chance to acquire a working beacon – even a badly damaged one – would be worth almost any risk"

Her gaze became contemplative.

"But the beacons were only programmed to interact with Prothean physiology. Whatever information you received would have been confused, unclear"

She paused for a moment before looking at him with something between fascination and admiration.

"I am _amazed_ that you were able to make sense of it at all. A lesser mind would have been utterly destroyed by the process. You must be remarkably strong-willed Commander"

"Okay. This isn't helping us finding Saren, or the Conduit" Ashley interjected in a more than mildly hostile tone.

"Of course" the other young woman responded slightly self-effacingly "You are right. I am sorry. My scientific curiosity got the better of me"

"Unfortunately I do not have any information that could help you find the Conduit, or Saren"

Kaelis accepted that. Though he had obviously hoped he had not particularly expected her to have any particular intel that would lead them to their target.

"Unless..."

She appeared to hesitate as if unsure whatever she was going to suggest would not be taken kindly.

"Commander, there is something that I can try that might be of help"

"What is it?" he asked intrigued.

"I don't know if you are aware of this but asari are capable of touching and connecting with the minds of others. The process is called a melding and allows us to mentally see and share memories or ideas between one and another"

Kaelis had indeed heard of this ability but he had no concrete knowledge about it beyond the basic concept. It was a fascinating ability but also one that was at the core of many human fears; the power of suggestion and mind-control foremost of these. He sincerely doubted that there was any truth to these rumours but anything that was unknown would always be feared.

"Of course there is no guarantee that I will be able to get any more clarity from the vision than you have seeing as I am not a Prothean either. But my expertise might enable me to make some more sense of it"

"It is worth a shot" Kaelis said. His immediate reaction to allowing someone access to his mind would have been a firm "no" but there where greater things at stake here. And to be honest there was something about the idea that intrigued him.

As the young asari rose and walked over to him he felt his body tense slightly in anticipation of whatever exactly was going to happen. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ashley stiffen as well as Kaiden and Garrus looking slightly apprehensive.

"Relax Commander" Liara said in serene tone much unlike her earlier excitement "slow deep breaths"

Kaelis allowed his body to relax, lowering his defences – something that a decade in the military made surprisingly hard to do – and tried slowing his breathing to a deep rhythm.

Liara closed her eyes and tilted her head down towards the floor and Kaelis felt a slight but noticeable tingling sensation at the edge of his awareness and the back of his mind.

Then she suddenly raised her head and her eyes snapped open. However they were no longer their natural colour or appearance. Her eyes had become like liquid pools of blackness, as utterly dark and mysterious as the void of space. It was not just her irises that were that dark but the entirety of her eyes became even blacker than her pupils had been before. However there was a glossy brilliance to the blackness, making the dark orbs seeming to glisten with a liquid patina.

"Embrace Eternity"

The words seemed to reverberate through his mind with an almost unnaturally potent resonance. Her voice seemed to stroke and calm his awareness with its mellifluous caress, almost like a song guiding a mind to sleep. Calmly his eyes closed, almost on their own volition.

Instinctly his mind fought the melding, unwilling to submit to the serene but alien influence. Not wanting to make the process any harder on the asari he tried let go of the defensive mechanism and just allow the tender presence into his mind.

Then everything seemed to fade away, not uncomfortably or suddenly, but slowly, gradually and gently; like falling asleep but without actually loosing awareness.

* * *

_Liara felt the darkness all around her. It was all-encompassing and absolute; more total than the empty void of dark space beyond the galaxy or the deepest ocean, without the tiniest flicker of light or disturbance. But it was not a sinister blackness. It was calm, serene and soothing. Like a dreamless sleep that embraced her tenderly. _

_Though the physical time barely accounted to seconds she seemed to experience an eternity passing by as the transition slowly and harmoniously merged and unified the two minds. But this was a melding; not a true Union. While connected in an ethereal symbiosis the two minds were not one; unified and joined but unmistakably separate and individual. _

_From the corporeal world of time, reality and physicality belonging to body Liara slowly awoke to the empyreal realm of thought, memory, wish and dream belonging to the mind. _

_She gradually felt the transcendence of the realm that was the Commander's mind seemingly coming to life around her. Or rather her becoming aware of it surrounding her in a way that always took her breath away._

_The melding was not a physical phenomenon. Some scientists might tell of how neurological connections and unique biological processes enabled this seemingly spiritual connection to occur but any asari would be able to attest that however it was achieved a melding was far more than simply a biological process. It was a deeply empathic experience beyond what most individuals from other species could even guess at._

_It was shaped more by the concepts of the mind than the laws of reality and as such defied purely physical sensation. Thus any attempt to accurately describe the experience of a melding would be doomed to failure. Only metaphorically could the connection be portrayed with any hope of staying true to the experience. _

_Sight, sound, touch, smell and taste merged in a plethora of sensual variations that bore little resemblance to physical stimuli. Every melding was different, each shaped by the minds of the pair engaged in this psychic symbiosis. Like embodied and incarnated aspects of the very deepest and most fundamental parts of what shaped the very identity and self of each participant. Aggression, tenderness, power, humility, cruelty, kindness, fear, courage, shyness, gregariousness, meekness, assertiveness; each trait that made up who a person is was mirrored in both the most subtle and palpable manner imaginable._

_Despite what many believed there was nothing inherently sexual about a melding. Its purpose was to share and transfer information, ideas, emotions and empathic messages far more profoundly than words would ever allow. Like a gesture or an action could convey an untold multitude of feelings and intentions beyond what a conversation might achieve so too a melding could convey the very essence of intent to another. Though it was generally considered a deeper and more solemn form of communion than talk its actual usage varied tremendously between circumstances and individuals. _

_In the scientific field asari would sometimes use it to transfer the precise and clear meaning of complex ideas or theories. In psychological circumstances they used it to help with buried memories, traumas or particularly important counselling. It was also a well-used diplomatic technique to gain unparalleled clarity through the cultural barrier between species. Perhaps most copious were its use between close friends or partners whose deeper personal connections allowed the most pure and insightful of meanings to pass seamlessly between them. _

_But a melding was not balanced. Unlike a Union where both partners attained a true harmony between each other a melding were a communion with an active and a passive participant. As it was used to share information there was always one of the individuals whose memory would be shared between them. Unless both participants were of the same race the asari would always be the active member; the one to transfer her memory to her partner or as here: experience his or her memory for herself. The other member of the melding would have a passive role in the communion, while not actively engaged in the process he or she would still be part of the experience on a deep level, conscious or not depending on their affinity for the melding. _

_Liara gradually became aware of the amorphous sensations surrounding her. Though no mere linguistic metaphor could ever truly do justice to the indescribable feelings of being in another's mind she could not avoid comparing and linking the experience to more physical concepts that her own mind likened to the nebulous feel of it all._

_She felt like she was swimming; floating, diving and rising fluidly through this unfathomably dark void. But she did not swim through water, there was no pressure against her, no resistance or temperature affecting her as it would normally have done. It felt more liked moving through the formless darkness of the night. As if the liquid but ethereally insubstantial night sky had become like an ocean for her to navigate through. And like the clearest of night skies here were stars. Connecting and weaving the most inexplicably complex patterns and forms imaginable the memories and thought of the Commander's mind shone forth. Somehow at once both the most dazzlingly plethora of inescapably bright lights that illuminated the night and the most indistinguishably subtle specks of light that were barely even noticeable against the absolute darkness of this impenetrable night. _

_As she felt and witnessed the spontaneous fleetingness of the capricious thoughts and echoes here Liara became aware that she was within the ever-changing weave of thoughts that made up the surface of the Commander's mind. Here each thought formed from the myriad of impressions of the reality around him and the echoing voices of his deeper memories before subsiding again swiftly and becoming one with the essence of the mind itself once more. _

_As Liara lingered here for a moment she noticed the subtle presence of the powerful emotional currents shaping and directing the ebb and flow of the Commander's thoughts. Most prominently amongst these she felt a wary curiosity tingling through the thoughts, spreading from one to the next like charges of electricity racing along conductive surfaces. Hidden beneath these she felt a surprisingly strong radiance of worried concern caused by a recent event. Both of these sensations felt curiously familiar, as if the catalyst of each were about or directed at something familiar. But despite the curiosity she felt at this she did not pry. Though slowly dissipating there was another sensation beneath these, a lingering resonance of aggression and violence bleeding through the chain of thoughts, probably a fading reverberation of the battles on Therum from earlier, still fresh in the Commander's mind. _

_Recalling her purpose she gave the Commander's surface thoughts no more than the cursory glance she had already provided before she moved deeper, subconsciously guided by the Commander's mind towards her reason for being here._

_As she reached deeper inside his consciousness the Commander's thoughts began giving way for his memories and the stronger more vigorous thoughts of the ideals and personality traits that made him who he was. Here the structure of his mind began becoming apparent to her as well._

_Rather than the relatively formless and more or less disciplined but random flows of thought in the surface of a mind the true structure of an individual's self was an extraordinarily complex and elaborate maze-like contraption consisting of an unbelievably intricate and ever-shifting weave of the mental pieces that was the true uniqueness of not just each of the races but each of the individuals within them. _

_The mental structure of a mind was a paradox that philosophical matriarchs much wiser than she spent countless decades meditating upon without ever truly solving its riddle. Consistently in shape, structure and pattern of what made a person who he or she was while also forever in constant flux as a person changed due to decisions, ideals, external occurrences, people they meet and interacted with and generally lived._

_Though there was no rules or arbitrary directions that all individuals of a given species followed each race bore certain traits that to a greater or lesser extend influenced the psychic architecture of its members. And while no single trait identified every individual within a species or was even present within all they were most could usually be found in some capacity within a given individual. _

_Liara began to feel the nature of the Commander's most fundamental core, the very primordial nature of the traits that made him human. The burning impulse to take action that drove humans to take initiative and ever move on in their lives, the fierce ambition that never left them satisfied but constantly led them to change and improve. The insatiable curiosity that forever led them onwards to discover and learn. The inherent fear of what they did not understand and the natural aggression towards any problem directed at them, qualities that made them so feared and seemingly unpredictable. _

_Then Liara felt past the more intrinsic aspects of the Commander's mind and awed as she felt the strength of will she began to sense around her. There was no doubt that his willpower was exceedingly potent, Liara could feel the tangible power that seemed to come naturally to him, strengthened by an exceeding loyalty, dedication and devotion and forged by military training and battle into a weave of flexible but diamantine threads interlacing the very essence of his mind._

_But while prodigiously strong-willed the Commander's mind was not rigid or self-restrained like that of many soldiers and military individuals. It was adaptive, imaginative, free and creative in a way Liara would never have guessed from what she had so far seen of him._

_She was temporarily reminded of an old saying amongst the asari "_do not judge someone from the shadow she casts_"._

_As she moved deeper Liara could not help but feel enchanted as she passed through the living web of the thoughts and memories that made up the stars of the Commander's mind. Compared to the fleeting and temporary thoughts she had passed before these were strong, vibrant and consistent. All connected through association and the ever-spiralling creativity of thoughts. Some were nothing but mere specks of light that left nothing more than a fleeting impression on the Commander's personality and self while others burned liked the brightest of stars and was the very essence of what shaped him to be who he was. _

_As she shifted in her almost dream-like state through and between them she felt the empathic resonance of them wash over her like waves of alternatively heat and cold; caressing her skin with their gentle touch or stinging it with searing pain. _

_She passed stars of memories that radiated glowing happiness that spread warmth and joy through her. There were some whose carefree delight called to mind memories of her childhood. There were some that sent shivers of fear or pride down her spine. And there were some that tainted their surrounding thoughts with pain and sorrow that she felt an inexplicably dear wish to help soothe and comfort; and a whole plethora a variances in-between. _

_Whether as a part of her natural maiden curiosity or something... deeper, Liara longed to see and feel these thoughts, to experience in particular what ideals, memories and thoughts the Commander treasured and held dear. But she had no desire to break the almost sacred bond of mutual trust forming doing a melding. _

_While the asari in a melding could share and experience the memories and thoughts of her partner it was not a simple matter of reading them freely as thought it was an open book. The partner nearly subconsciously allowed the asari in to see his or her cherished, feared or troubled memories through an unconscious willingness to share. It _was_ possibly for the asari to experience the memories regardless of the acquiescence of the partner but he or she would instantly be aware of such an intrusion and such a thing was considered one of the absolutely worst violations of respect and privacy one could commit and an utterly terrible betrayal of trust never easily forgiven. _

_By now Liara was sure that what she sought was buried deep within the Commander's subconscious but as she moved deeper she felt something. It was like a pressure against her slowly building in strength. It was not much unlike being too deep beneath water for too long. It was like a pressure against her skin, a stinging in her delicate eardrums, a slight blurring before her eyes, and difficulty breathing. _

_She quickly realised that it was subconscious resistance from the Commander's mind. It was resisting the intrusion of her presence like a healthy body would fight an infection; the fact the he was so strong-willed only exaggerated the effect. Liara knew that she was not actually in any danger but the experience was not only getting uncomfortable but straining and exhausting for her, especially in her less than optimal state._

_She became aware of the fact that she had actually felt it from the moment she began but in her mild rapture fascination she had not truly noticed it for what it was until she was deep enough that it had begun to hurt. She cursed herself for not expecting it. She knew humans instinctively resisted the melding, just as she knew that it was not the Commander actively hindering her but simply his mind defending itself from what it believed to be a damaging intrusion. She knew that her presence not harm his mind, just as an ocean would not be harmed by someone swimming in its waters; but nevertheless the resistance where there quite palpable now._

_There was something almost predatory about the way the Commander's mind fought her and Liara was reminded of a shyzyra: the elegant reptilian almost theropod-like birds of prey of her homeworld of Thessia; creatures renowned for their grace, intelligence and fierce loyalty their pack and when trained their master. Reaching out to soothe the resistance almost like one would calm one of the creatures when angry or frightened Liara let it feel that she was no threat to it and that she was here to help._

_She felt the tension ease but it did not vanish entirely and no doubt it would rise again, like a tired body temporarily able to relax but not fully able to fall asleep. She sighed to herself she knew that this resistance was a natural an intrinsic part of the human mind and was something that only familiarity and developed trust would truly overcome. Provided she there was ever a opportunity or need for that to happen, and she caught herself silently hoping that there would be._

_Putting such thoughts out of her head she let herself reach deeper still. But as she submerged herself within the flow of the subconscious she felt something odd. She could only describe it as a slow pulsating rhythm. At first she thought it was a heartbeat but she soon realised that this pulsing throb was nothing like the harmonious and rhythmic beating of a heart; it was cacophonous and agonising and behind that she thought she could make out what sounded almost like screaming. _

_Approaching apprehensively she knew that she had found what she sought. She could feel the horror, agony and dread radiating from it in poisonous waves like some cancerous growth tainting its surroundings with its mere proximity. As she draw near she knew this was the vision burned into the Commander's mind but she felt suddenly fearful; it was a direct link to a virtually unique Prothean phenomenon but she could now feel what she had now even thought about before now, the sheer terrible empathic resonance of the death of an entire species embedded within the vision. _

_Steadying herself with the mental equivalent of taking a deep breath and submerged herself within the experience of the vision of the Prothean extinction._

* * *

_The first thing Liara became aware of was the light. A deathly infernal red light shone through and around anything in view, saturating the panorama and bathing it in its hellish radiance. _

_Then came the sounds. She could hear screams, cries of anguish and torment; a deafening cacophonous tone that seemed to vibrate through the air and earth around her; blasts of weapons ranging from personal armament to devices of unfathomable power._

_She could feel the intense heat of flames licking across fallen corpses and ruined buildings. She felt raging wind against her face that carried the overwhelming smell of blood and burned flesh._

_She saw shapes moving through hellish light in the distance, they were gargantuan but they seemed blurry and indistinct and she could not make any details out._

_She saw people running through the inferno of battle. These too were unclear and hazy, but even though her mind could not truly make sense of the vision she knew them to be Protheans. She could feel their fear and utter despair rushing through her like a wave of freezing water._

_She saw the monsters hunting and slaughtering them, butchering them by the thousands; reaping their prey. They were synthetics, cold, dreadful and utterly merciless. _

_The vision shifted; images and scenes reforming before her eyes in a salarian-blood-green haze._

_She saw proud vessels being sheared in half by bright-red beams of energy from dark shapes in the void._

_She heard crew members screaming in terrors as their fleet was sundered. Some freezing to death as their compartment were exposed to the vacuum of space. Others were burned to death, trapped in room while shipboard fires consumed them alive. And yet some were killed mercifully swiftly as they were caught in explosions or even present directly where their ship was struck by enemy fire._

_She felt an almost apocalyptic wave of despair and tragedy rush over her, the emotions of the helpless millions on the planet below as the synthetics landed._

_Then the visions shifted again, the pictures coming faster and more incoherently with each passing moment._

_She saw a world stripped bare of life, its surface glassed or blasted beyond any semblance of its former glory, its oceans evaporated from the unbelievable destructive force unleashed, its atmosphere scourged beyond the ability to sustain life by poisonous element zero radiation. _

_She witnessed hideouts of scared civilians being breached by relentless hunted or utterly obliterated from orbit. Families embracing their loved ones for one last time, children crying in fear._

_She saw cities filled with survivors in dire panic as their as the learned that their killers where descending upon them. Stout defenders saying their farewells knowing that they will never return, people taking their own lives by the hundreds rather than facing their pitiless foes._

_She saw yet undiscovered worlds where the few inhabitants lived on in constant fear that they would eventually be found and murdered as they flee of fight. Constantly looking to the sky for those doom-heralding signs of black shapes bathed in red light darkening the sun of their world._

_She saw dead-eyed survivors having escaped the certain death at the hands of their executioners but forever dead inside by the horrors they have seen and the knowledge that they themselves will never escape._

_In a hazy glow she saw a world in the deep void untouched by the reaping touch of its people's doom. Something hidden lay within._

_Then she saw a black sphere, a planet illuminated from behind by a raging sun. A dark shape outlines of hellish red taking from within the darkness before it came closer._

* * *

Kaelis opened his eyes as he felt the connection sever.

The melding had a truly alien experience, beyond anything he had tried before but by no account an unpleasant one. Though the comparison did the melding no justice it reminded him of waking up after a lovely but forgotten dream.

As he lifted his head again to look at the young woman standing in front of him he saw that she was breathing heavily.

"Are you okay?" he asked her slightly concerned.

"I am fine" she said with a bit difficulty as she looked at him, her eyes were no longer black

"I am just a bit overwhelmed by the experience; I never imagined that the vision could be so vivid and intense"

She seemed to become a bit steadier after a moment but Kaelis could see that it had taken a lot out of her.

"Did you see anything that could help us?" he asked, hoping that she might have gleamed something of importance from the random glimpses that made little to no sense to him.

"I am afraid I could not see anything that you did not already know" she said "without being a Prothean the images are chaotic and fragmentary. I was able to see more clearly what you described but unless we find some way to translate the vision I am afraid any clues it might hold will remain elusive"

Kaelis accepted the disappointment.

"It was worth a try" he said admiringly.

She smiled a little apologetically.

"I am sorry I was not able to off greater help Commander" she said.

"Don't worry about it" he replied "I don't know why Saren wanted you out of the picture. But I think we would be a lot better off if we brought you along"

"Thank you Commander" she said appreciatively "Saren might come after me again. I cannot think of anywhere safer than here on your ship. And my knowledge of the Protheans might be useful later on"

"Good to have you on the team Liara" he said sincerely.

She nodded thankfully.

"I am afraid I am feeling a bit lightheaded. Are we finished here Commander?"

He nodded once.

"We can talk more later after you have seen Dr. Chakwas again" he looked around at the other team members "the rest of you dismissed!"

While watching them leave Kaelis felt an odd sense of happiness filling him. Despite neither Liara herself nor the melding had been able to provide any answers he could feel a warm sensation flowing through him. As he looked at Liara leaving he wondered whether it was an after effect of the melding or perhaps something else.


End file.
